Adjustable two-part separable i-beam connector



n 1968 w. D. WILLIAMS ADJUSTABLE TWO-PART SEPARABLE I-BEAM CONNECTOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 31, 1966 //v l EN TOR WALTER 0. LL/AMS June 25, 1968 w. D. WILLIAMS 3,389,929

ADJUSTABLE TWO-PART SEPARABLE I-BEAM CONNECTOR Filed March 31, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I/VVENTOR WAL TEE D. W/LL/AMS United States Patent 3,389,929 ADJUSTABLE TWO-PART SEPARABLE I-BEAM CONNECTGR Walter D. Williams, River Forest, Ill, assignor to Symons Mfg. Company, Des Plaines, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 31, 1966, Ser. No. 539,102 7 Claims. (Cl. 287-18936) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An adjustable two-part separable I-beam connector by means of which a first and fixed horizontally disposed I- beam may be caused to support a second horizontally disposed I-beam in side-to-end relationship and in such a manner that the second I-beam is capable of swinging movement in a horizontal plane with respect to the first I-beam.

The present invention, in its broadest aspect, relates to an adjustable two-part separable I-beam connector by means of which a first and fixed horizontally disposed I- beam may be caused to support a second horizontally disposed I-beam in side-to-end relationship and also in such a manner that the second I-beam is capable of swinging movement in a horizontal plane with respect to the first I-beam.

The connector of the present invention is capable of many applications in industry as, for example, in the erection of temporary steel scaffolding or in the construction of various forms of steel framework. It has been found particularly useful in the building industry where the connector may be used to support one horizontally disposed panel-supporting I-beam type stringer from another similar I-beam type stringer at an angle thereto, the stringers serving as end supports for horizontally disposed slabforming panels upon which Wet concrete is adapted to be poured in the construction of a building floor slab or the like. The invention is, therefore, disclosed and described herein in connection with a concrete slab-forming system.

The adjustable two-part I-beam connector of the present invention is designed for use primarily in connection with a building erection system of the type which is shown and described in, and forms the subject matter of, United States Patent No. 3,130,470, granted on Apr. 2, 1964 and entitled, Concrete Wall Form Installation. Reference may be had to this patent for a full understanding of the involved building erection system, but for purposes of discussion herein, only such phases of the system as are pertinent to the present I-beam connector are set forth. The system under discussion is predicated upon the use of various special items of concrete hardware, such, for example, as special shoring units, stringers, stringerto-shore connections, stringer-to-panel connections and especially upon the use of slab-forming panels which are commonly known as Steel-Ply panels. When such items are used according to the system of aforementioned Patent No. 3,130,470, it is possible to remove the slab-forming panels from beneath a poured concrete slab at an earlier date than is possible with other building erection systems inasmuch as provision is made for stripping the panels from the system while leaving the shoring units and the stringers that are supported thereby in place to carry the weight of the concrete slab which need not necessarily be completely set or hardened before panelremoving operations. This early removal of Steel-Ply panels is made possible by the use of special stringers of I-beam configuration and since the I-beam connector of the present invention is designed primarily to facilitate placement of such an I-beam type stringer in an angularly adjusted position in a building erection system of the type 3,389,929 Patented June 25, 1968 under consideration, the environmental disclosure herein for the I-beam connector consists only of a fixed I-beam type stringer and a horizontally movable or adjustable I-beam stringer. The present adjustable I-beam connector is shown as being provided with special facilities whereby it will accommodate such special forms of I-beams, but it will be distinctly understood that these facilities may be modified or omitted altogether so that the connector may accommodate an adjustable union between ordinary I-beams or other special types of I-beams regardless of the use to which such I-beams may be put.

Briefly, in carrying out the present invention, there is provided a first connector part having associated therewith an attachment bracket which is adapted to be fixedly secured to a first I-beam type stringer in a particular position with respect thereto and when so secured, presents an upstanding pivot or hinge pin which is of appreciable length and is disposed a slight distance to one side of the first stringer. A second connector part is provided and it includes a mating pivot or hinge sleeve which is telescopically receivable over the hinge pin of the attach ment bracket of the first connector part and carries a supporting base for one end of a second I-beam stringer. The aforementioned hinge pin and complemental hinge sleeve are so designed that the hinge pin carries the full weight of the hinge sleeve and its supported end of the second stringer, and the arrangement is such that the second stringer may be swung horizontally throughout approximately l with respect to the first stringer and between positions of substantial parallelism with the first stringer and a position wherein it is disposed at an angle of with respect to the first stringer. Moreover, the adjustable two-part separable I-beam connector is so constructed that when it is operatively installed upon the two associated I-beam type stringers, both of the stringers occupy a common plane. This feature of the invention is important inasmuch as, according to the involved slabforming system, the upper I-beam flanges of all of the stringers in the system must be maintained coplanar since they lie fiush with the plywood facings of the slab-forming and constitute, in effect, continuations thereof for reception thereon of the wet slab-forming concrete.

Another important feature of the present invention resides in the fact that each connector part is so designed that its attachment to its respective I-beam type stringer may be made conveniently on a friction clamping basis so that not only is the connection made without requiring alternation or modification of the stringer, as, for example, the drilling of holes for clamping bolts or the like or: the use of welds, but also in the case of the fixed I-beam type stringer, the application may be made at any selected region longitudinally along such stringer. Still further, the application or attachment may be made to the associated stringer on an empirical basis and the location shifted in one direction or the other during such application before the clamping means are tightened to insure a proper final adjustment in the system. Finally, because the adjustable two-part I-beam connector of the present invention is a releasable connector in that it makes connections with the two involved I-beam type stringers solely by friction clamping means, the connector as a whole is readily reusable in different installations or systems and it does not destroy the reusability of any of the parts of the slab-forming building erection system with which it is associated.

The provision of an adjustable two-part separable I-beam or stringer connector of the character briefly outlined above, and possessing the stated advantages therefor, constituting the principal object of the invention, various other objects and advantages, not at this time enumerated,

will readily suggest themselves as the nature of the invention is better understood.

In the accompanying two sheets of drawings forming a part of this specification, one illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a limited portion of a concrete slab-forming building erection system, showing a pair of panel-supporting stringers operatively connected together by the adjustable two-part sepa rable connector of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevational view of the structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the structure of FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged exploded perspective view of the connector, together with a clamping device by means of which the connector is secured to one of the stringers of the illustrated system.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and in particular to FIGS. 1 to 3, inclusive, an adjustable two-part separable I-beam connector embodying the principles of the present invention is identified in its entirety by the reference numeral in FIG. 1 and it consists of two principal parts, namely, an attachment bracket 12 and a supporting bracket 14. The connector 10 is adapted for use in establishing a pivotal connection between the medial region of a horizontally disposed fixed first I-beam 16 and one end of a horizontally disposed movable second I-bea m 18 so that the latter I-beam is capable of swinging movement about a vertical axis in close proximity to one side of the first I-beam. While the I-beams 16 and 18 may constitute structural elements of a steel scaffolding or any other suitable erected steel structure, for purposes of discussion herein, these two I-beams are shown as constituting the basic elements of a pair of stringer assemblies which form parts of a concrete slabforming building erection system and are adapted to support thereon the end regions of horizontally disposed slabforming panels (not shown) on which wet concrete is adapted to be poured in order to produce a floor slab or the like. These I-beams 16 and 18 will be referred to hereinafter simply as stringers and each includes upper and lower horizontal flanges 2i) and 22 and a vertical connecting web 24. The web 24 of each stringer is provided with a longitudinal series of longitudinally spaced arcuate slots 26. On opposite sides of the web 24 of each stringer and in straddling relationship with respect to the web is a pair of vertically movable horizontally extending support bars 28 in the form of angle-pieces having horizontal flanges 30 and, in addition, vertical flanges 32 which project outwardly beyond the lateral extent of the upper and lower I-beam flanges and 22. The vertical flanges 32 of the support bars are provided with holes 33 therein, each hole being designed for register with one of the aforementioned arcuate slots 26. Clamping nut and bolt assemblies 34 pass through the registering holes and slots and are provided for the purpose of clamping the support bars 28 hard against the sides of the stringer webs 24 in either an elevated operative panel-supporting position or in a lowered panel-releasing position. Near the opposite ends of the stringers 16 and 18, the lower flanges 22 thereof are provided with locating holes 36 on opposite sides of the webs 24. In a conventional slabforming building erection system as disclosed in aforementioned Patent No. 3,130,470, these locating holes are designed for reception over locating upstanding protuberances at the upper ends of shore assemblies (not shown) which support in an elevated position the stringers 16 and 18. Upstanding protuberances 38 in the form of rivet shanks are provided on the horizontal flanges of the vertical movable support bars 28 and these protuberances are designed for locking engagement with the metal studding at the ends of the aforementioned slab-forming panels to prevent the panels from sliding off the adjacent edges of the movable support bars 28 when the panels are in position thereon.

The attachment bracket 12 of the I-beam connector 10 involves in its general organization a short horizontal length of T-beam 40 including a horizontal top flange 42, and a vertical web 44 (see FIG. 4). The opposite sides of one end of the horizontal top flange 42 taper outwardly as at 46 and terminate adjacent one end edge of the T-beam 4t and this latter end edge is welded as at 50 to one side of a vertically extending cylindrical sleeve 52. A section of cylindrical tube stock fits Within the sleeve 52, is welded therein, projects upwardly an appreciable distance beyond the upper open end of the sleeve 52, and provides, in effect, a vertically extending hinge pin 54, the effective length of which is approximately equal to the vertical height of one of the stringers. As will be described in greater detail presently, the top flange 42 of the T-beam 40 of the attachment bracket 12 is adapted to traverse the bottom flange 22 of the I-beam type stringer 16 and to be securely clamped thereto in supported relationship by a specially constructed clamping device or assembly which is designated in its entirety by the reference numeral 60.

The nature of such assembly will be set forth presently, and its sole function is to clamp the top flange 42 of the T-beam 40 against the underneath side of the bottom flange 22 of the stringer 16 at any desired location longitudinally along said stringer 16.

The supporting bracket 14 of the connector 10 is adapted to be swingably supported upon the hinge pin 54 of the supported attachment bracket 12 and toward this end, the bracket 14 includes a cylindrical hinge sleeve 62 which is telescopically received over the hinge pin 54. The lower open annular rim of the hinge sleeve 62 rests upon and is slidably supported by the annular shoulder 64 which is established by the upper circular open rim of the cylindrical sleeve 52 of the attachment bracket 12. A vertically elongated shallow channel 66 has its longitudinal edges welded as at 68 to the hinge sleeve 62. The lower end portion of this channel projects below the hinge sleeve an appreciable distance. A second short length of T-beam 70 has one end welded to the channel 66 and projects horizontally therefrom so that as the hinge sleeve 62 turns upon the hinge pin 54 and T-beam 70 swings in radial fashion about the vertical axis of the hinge pin 54. The T-beam 70 of the supporting bracket 14 is provided with an upper horizontal flange 72 and a vertical web 74. The upper flange 72 constitutes a support for one end of the I-beam type stringer 18. Said stringer extends in the same direction as the T-beam 70 and has its lower flange 22 seated upon the top flange 72 of the T-beam 70. Two spaced apart upstanding protuberances 76 near the end of the T-beam 70 that is adjacent to the hinge sleeve 62 project upwardly from the top flange 72 and extend through the previously mentioned holes 36 in the lower flange 22 of the stringer 18 for locating purposes. A pair of spaced apart ears '78 having aligned holes 79 therein is provided near the upper end of the channel 62 to receive the adjacent end edge of the web 24.

Two anchor plates 80 having upturned edges 82 are welded to or formed integrally with the side edges of the top flange 72 of the T-beam 70 on opposite sides of the web 74, project outwards beyond the side edges of the top flange, and are provided with holes 84. Such holes are adapted to receive therethrough vertically extending clamping screws 86 which cooperate with nuts 88 which are welded in position on respective clamping plates 90 having downturned outer side edges 92. The flat sides of the clamping plates 90 overlie and bear downwardly against the lower flange 22 of the stringer 18, while the downturned outer side edges 92 lie just outside the upturned edges of the anchor plates 80 in straddling relationship, thus securely clamping the flange 22 of the stringer 18 against the top flange 72 of the T- beam 70.

It is to be noted that the region of attachment of the inner end of the T-beam 70 to the channel 66 is below the level of the hinge sleeve 62 so that when this sleeve rests upon the annular shoulder 64, the top flanges 72 and 42 of the T-beams 70 and 40 are substantially coplanar and, therefore, the two stringers 18 and 16 that are respectively supported thereon occupy the same hori zontal level so that their top flanges 20 are coplanar and lie in the general plane of the facings of such slab-forming panels as may be supported upon the support bars 28, thereby presenting a smooth unbroken planar surface upon which wet concrete may be poured to produce the desired floor slab.

From the above description, it will be appreciated that the stringer 18 is fixedly but releasably secured to the T-beam 70 of the supporting bracket 14 in a defined and fixed position. On the other hand, the T-beam 40 of the attachment bracket 42 is adapted to be secured to the bottom flange 22 of the stringer 16 at any selected region therealong. This is made possible by the aforementioned clamping assembly 60. This clamping assembly forms no part of the present invention except insofar as its association with the top flange 42 of the T-beam 40 and the bottom flange 22 of the stringer 16 in a slab forming building erection system is concerned. Said clamping assembly 60 is of the type that is shown and described in United States Patent No. 3,144,105, granted on Aug. 11, 1964 and entitled separable Two-part I- Beam Connector. Reference may be had to such patent for a full understanding of the nature of the clamping assembly 60. Briefly, however, it is deemed suflicient to point out that this assembly is comprised of two substantially identical parts 100 and 102, each part being in the form of an L-shaped casting including an elongated leg 104 from which there projects laterally a flat plate-like leg 106 which is slightly elevated from the elongated leg 104. The distal or unencumbered end of the elongated leg 104 of each part threadedly receives therein a vertical clamping bolt 108 which passes through a slot 110 in the flat leg of the other or opposing part when two parts 100 and 102 are brought together in quadrilateral relationship. The assembled two parts of the clamping assembly 60 define therebetween two intersecting channels, one of which is designated by the reference letter C in FIG. 4 and the other of which is designated by the reference letter D. The channel C receives the top flange 42 of the T-beam 40 of the attachment bracket 12, while the channel D receives therethrough the bottom flange 22 of the stringer 16 and when the bolts 108 are tightened, the crossing flanges of the T-beam 40 and stringer 16 are drawn hard against each other. Webbing 114 is provided on the upper surface of each flat leg 106 for reinforcing purposes.

'In a concrete slab-forming building erection system of the type under consideration, extremely high stresses are encountered and, therefore, the present adjustable two-part separable I-beam connector has been designed specifically to accommodate use of the clamping assembly 60. In installations other than concrete slabforming systems where considerably lighter loads are contemplated, other clamping means for drawing the two flanges 22 and 42 hard against each other may be employed. For example, under certain circumstances, common C-clamps may suflice to hold these crossing flanges against each other without slippage. Where a permanent connection is to be made, the bottom flange 22 of the stringer 16 may be welded directly to the top flange of the T-beam 40.

From the above description, it will be appreciated that in a given concrete slab-forming system employing the basic functional elements of the system of building erection which is shown and described in the abovementioned Patent No. 3,130,470, the present I-beam connector may be employed for supporting an intermediate stringer such as the stringer 18 in diagonal fashion between any two adjacent parallel stringers 16 and at any desired anglewith respect to the two parallel stringers. To effect such system, the approximate locations for the opposite ends of the stringer 18 along the two parallel stringers will first be ascertained and one of the two bracket parts 12 and 14 will be operatively attached to the lower flange 22 of each of the stringers 16 in such approximate locations, utilizing the clamping assemblies 60 to effect the attachment but without securely drawing the clamping bolts 108 tight. This will leave the two bracket parts 12 captured on the lower I-beam flanges 22 but capable of longitudinal sliding movement therealong for adjustment purposes. Thereafter, a pair of the bracket parts 14 will be applied to each end of the stringer 18 which is to constitute the diagonal strut between the two stringers 16 and the clamping bolts 86 thereof will be securely tightened. A workman at one end of the stringer 18 will cause the hinge sleeve 62 at his end of the stringer to be telescopically received over the hinge pin 54 of the adjacent bracket part 12 on one of the shore-supported stringers 16 and another workman at the opposite end of the stringer 18 will cause the hinge sleeve 62 at his end of the stringer 18 to be telescopically received over the hinge pin 54 of the bracket part 12 on the other stringer 16. If the latter bracket part 12 is not accurately positioned on the latter stringer 16 to receive the hinge sleeve 62, the workman will slide the bracket part 12 in one direction or the other longitudinally along the lower flange 22 until registry between the hinge sleeve 62 and the hinge pin 54 can be attained, after which the telescopic assembly will be made and the clamping bolts 108 of the two clamping assemblies 60 on both parallel stringers 16 will be tightened to complete the installation or system. Removal of the diagonal stringer 18 from between the parallel stringers 16 during form-stripping operations may be accomplished by a reversal of the aforementioned system procedure.

The invention is not to be limited to the exact arrangement of parts shown in the accompanying drawings or described in this specification as various changes in the details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Therefore, only insofar as the invention has particularly been pointed out in the accompanying claims is the same to be limited.

Having thus described the invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a first horizontally disposed fixed I-beam and a second horizontally disposed movable I-beam, of a separable two-part I-beam connector for pivotally supporting one end of the second I-beam from a selected medial region of the first I-beam in end-to-side relationship so that the second I-beam is capable of swinging movement in the same general horizontal plane as that of the first I-beam, each I-beam being provided with horizontal top and bottom flanges and an interconnecting vertical web, said I-beam connector comprising a first fixed part in the form of an attachment bracket and a second movable part in the form of a support bracket, means releasably clamping the attachment bracket to a medial region of the bottom flange of the first I-beam, means for releasably securing the support bracket to one end region of the bottom flange of the second I-beam, and means establishing a hinge connection between said first fixed part and said second movable part of the I-beam connector, said hinge connection comprising an upstanding vertically disposed hinge pin on said attachment bracket at a region offset laterally from the first I-beam, and a vertically disposed hinge sleeve on said support bracket at a region offset endwise from said one end of the second I-beam and telescopically received over said hinge pin, said hinge pin being provided with an annular seating shoulder in the lower region thereof upon which the lower end of the hinge sleeve is slidingly supported.

2, The combination set forth in claim 1, wherein said attachment bracket is in the form of a short length of T-beam stock having an upper horizontal flange and a vertical web, said upper horizontal flange of the attachment bracket underlying the bottom flange of the first I- beam in face-to-face engagement therewith with the length of T-bearn stock extending at a right angle to the first I-beam, and wherein said support bracket is likewise in the form of a short length of T-beam stock having an upper horizontal flange and a vertical web, said latter horizontal flange underlying the bottom flange of the second I-beam in face-to-face engagement therewith with the length of T-beam stock extending longitudinally of the second I-beam.

3. The combination set forth in claim 2, wherein the means for releasably securing the support bracket to one end region of the bottom flange of the second I-bearn comprises a pair of anchor plates secured to the underneath side of said upper horizontal flange of the support bracket and overhanging the side edges thereof, a removable clamping plate for each anchor plate overlying the bottom flange of the second I-beam, and a clamping nut and bolt assembly efiective to draw each clamping plate toward its respective anchor plate to releasably clamp said bottom flange of the second I-beam therebetween.

4. The combination with a first horizontally disposed fixed I-beam and a second horizontally disposed movable I-beam, of a separable two-part I-beam connector for pivotally supporting one end of the second I-beam from a selected medial region of the first I-beam in end-to-side relationship so that the second I-beam is capable of swingmovement in the same general horizontal plane as that of the first I-bearn, each I-beam being provided with horizontal top and bottom flanges and an interconnecting vertical web, said I-beam connector comprising a first fixed part in the form of an attachment bracket and a second movable part in the form of a support bracket, means releasably clamping the attachment bracket to a medial region of the bottom flange of the first I-beam, means for releasably securing the support bracket to one end region of the bottom flange of the second I-beam, and a hinge connection between said first fixed part and said second movable part of the I-beam connector, said hinge connection comprising a vertically disposed tubular socket-forming sleeve secured to and forming a part of the first fixed connector part, a hinge pin having its lower end fixedly received in said sleeve and projecting upwardly and vertically above the upper rim of said sleeve, a hinge sleeve secured to and forming a part of the second movable connector part and telescopically received over said hinge pin and slidingly seated on the upper rim of said socket-forming sleeve.

5. The combination set forth in claim 4, wherein said vertically disposed socket-forming sleeve lies wholly below the level of the bottom flange of the second I-beam and is disposed in the vertical plane of the web thereof with its upper end lying in the horizontal plane of said latter bottom flange, and wherein said hinge sleeve is co extensive with the vertical extent of the web of the second I-beam.

6. The combination set forth in claim 5 and including, additionally, releasable interengaging means on said hinge sleeve and the web of the second I-beam for preventing angular deviation of the hinge sleeve from the plane of said latter web.

7. The combination set forth in claim 6, wherein said interengaging means comprises a vertical channel having its side edges welded to said hinge sleeve coextensively therealong, and a pair of ears on the upper end of said channel straddling the adjacent portion of said web of the second I-heam.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,647,270 8/1953 Frost 287-18936 3,144,105 8/1964 Capek 287-189.35

FOREIGN PATENTS 221,994 3/ 1909 Germany.

EDWARD C. ALLEN, Primary Examiner.

R. S. BRITTS, Assistant Examiner. 

